Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-02-19
Depreeisted Value. of Live Stock and
 hhy.

| UHN.
 The New York Daily Commercial Bul
 letin of late date contained an articl
 orltielsing the manner in winch ChicAg
 live stock commission men sell liv
 stock, to whom 1t terms the dressed bee
 monarchs. lt makes the startling dis
 closure that these dressed beef mon.
 archs were few years ago the csttl,
 kings of the great Northwest. It state
 "thst their Concentrated power has
 tremendous bearing on the disposition
 of the product ID which they deal snC
 that they control to R great extent the
 prices ot beef to the consumer. is per
 h8ps not Rn unreasonable assumption
 Whether indeed this is true, II certainly does not alter the fact that it Is very
 generally belisved."
 It also says: When the hardy grow
 CTS from Montana and Wyoming arrive
 at the purchasing and slsughterins cen tres, snd the herd is offered to the cst
 tle king buyers. the seller is met with
 the statement that the price is too high;
 that the demand IS too mesgre to iusti-
 fy the payment of the price asked. The seller then seeks another dressed beei
 buyer. but is met with about the same Rnswer. and he finds that he cannot sell his cattle. unless he dispolses of them at the price which, it is alleged, IS fixed upon beforehand by this powerful syn dicate."
 To enlighten our learned New York writer. ve will state that in this market we not only have buyers for four dressed beef houses. but we have fifty six buyers and shippers of live stock, who buy and ship to all the principal Eastern points, and the names of these buyers will be furnished by the Drovsrs Journal when required
 From July l, 1886, to December 3I. lSS6. these live stock buyers bought and sbipped from this market to Eastern points, 37l,4 head of live cattle. and for weeks at time the daily purchases of cattle to be shipped alive Easi was 90 great the roads could not f1rDish sui cient number of cars to haul them.
 Now these are facts and ought to demonstrate to any sensible person that our market is not controlled by or are Our commission men compelled. and neither do they, sell to any one class of buyers. The sellers offer their stock to both dressed beef and live stock buyers, and tbe highest bidder gets the stock. The New York man further states that three years ago steers that sold for SiJ 10 $50 now only bring from S20 to S2j, and yet in New York the consumer Is compelled to pay from l5 to 25 cents per pound when 1t IS dressed. Of course there are several ways of accounting for this. One shipper we'll yersed in the business, said IL was chiefly owing to the lack of intelligence on the part of tbe purchasing public. The retailers, he declared, were making a great desl of money,
 Any one, for instance, could go tO the Washington market and buy ribs for II cents, the round of beef for conts. plate cents, the loins which comprise pOrter-hOuss and sirlOin steak for l2 cents per pound. I. seems reasonably certain that the retailer who deals & rectly with the consumer makes the largest profit
 Now, notwithstanding the above ad- mission from live stock shipper that the retailer gets the lions share of the profits, the New York man attributes the decline in live stock, and the high prices the consumers are obliged so pay, entirely tO the dressed beef shippers II there are such great fortunes m the dressed beef business as our New York RrIter claims, will he inform us why the slauRhterIng establishment erected at VIc,oris, Texas, about three years ago, ran only few months, ,theD,closed up and started again last year, and again failed; also the slaugh,erlng house at Fort Worth. Texas, which only ran 6 short time and was closed out; also the n1a hnrra. akarka1 nk M.u11ra Mont, which commenced about three yeaIs ago and was abandoned last year. All these houses have been started by men of grea. wealth and in regions where the bulk of our range cattle come ! from. and by slaughterlng at the above | points they save all the shrinkage in | shipping, freight and feed n the road, | stock yard charges, and commissions for l selling, thereby saving from S5OO tO SS co per head. and still with all these they failed, and lost the several millions of dollars.
 J. E. Butcher, General Live Stock Agent of the New York Central Rail load, T. c. Eastman, slsughterer and Mr. Stern and Nr. White. both large slsughteTers, all of New York city, and other prominent live stock dealers, organized the St. Lotus Dressed Beef Company, which opened NOvem- Der, 1883, and closed down January l, l 1884, after having met with very heavy ! losses. They opened again about March, 1 1886, and are slaughteriDg about 10O | cattle daily. Would it not se reasons be to suppose that if there was 60 much | money in the dressed beef business (ss | many uninformeJ persons belIevel, The | S.. LOuis Dressed Beef Co. would go | into the business more extensively as | they certainly have ample capital to i do so.
 There are many good reasons why l the producer does not get more for his l cattle.
 l. By badly over stocked ranges.
 2. Quarantines by all the northern | sections.
 8 Railway and general labor strikes.
 4. Glat. and demorHlized foreign meat ! markets.
 .. The heaviest marketing of beef cat | tie ever known m 8 like period.
 6. Tbe general depression of trades | and industries all over the country.
 [. The pool of railroads running east from Chicago on the 1st of last March raised their rate 40 per cent on live stock and % per cent on dressed beef. l This took SIPS per head of from every head of beef cattle.
 8. The oleOmsrgine bill took of from S2OO io S2 50 more. aggrega.ing over seven million five huundred thousand dollars ID this market alone. tO say 2 cothiBg about the other numerous Ot the west; and this vast sp,ount Of money 0Oee intO tha United States Treasury, which IS already over flowing. aud into the pockets of the rail wsy magnsIes, and it all comes out O. the producers and consumers.
 Still, II has been and continues tO be q favorits theme for eastern writers to en- large upon and lay it all to the Chicago business meD.-Drover's Journal.
 A sad Case Of POi.ionm. ia that of any man or wor,Ep afflicted